The patience of a sheikh
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- Created: Monday, 08 June 2009 23:54
- Written by David Moftakhar
Billionaire football club owners aren’t synonymous with patience. You only have to look at the managerial carousels at Chelsea and QPR to see that. However, at the Middle-Eastlands - the most heavily landed gentry of the lot - things are playing themselves out a little differently.
Once the oil rich royalty from Abu Dhabi took over at Manchester City, it appeared as though Mark Hughes’s days were numbered. Breaking the British transfer record for Robinho and shouting the odds about signing Kaka, Messi and Ronaldo, the quiet and unassuming Welshman’s position seemed tenuous.
It was at the start of the 2004/05 season that the managerial merry-go-round really started turning.
So Gareth Barry finally moved from the club 'who's result I'll always look for first'. The fact that he has ended up moving to Manchester City for £12million raises inevitable questions about his motivation. If rumours were to be believed and logic dictated, it seemed likely that Aston Villa were going to have to cut their losses on a player who only had a year remaining on his contract. The most obvious target was of course Barry's long-term 
The end of the season is here, Porto won the Cup of Portugal on Sunday and their manager Jesualdo Ferreira announced he’d be staying on for another two years.